If The Bossert Indeed Becomes A Hotel Again, Here’s Your Rooftop View

June 23, 2012

During the Community Board 2 Land Use Committee hearing June 20, the Bossert was approved to return to its status as a hotel (it now goes before the full Board). Among plans that buyer David Bistricer has in mind for the newly “sophisticated and upscale” hotel are a first-class restaurant and intimate dining on the rooftop. The photo above—taken from the roof of 62 Montague Street—offers a vista of the west side showing the immensity of the 14-story Hotel Bossert, as well as the rooftop area (larger image below the jump).

The Bossert at 98 Montague Street was built in 1909 by Brooklyn lumber magnate Louis Bossert as an apartment hotel and, in fact, housed a number of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950s. During the 1920s, its Marine Roof offered a two-level restaurant showcasing a consummate view of Manhattan and much of Brooklyn. According to The New York Times, former presidents, mayors, governors and debutantes flocked to the restaurant, designed to look like a two-tiered promenade deck of a ship. In 1949, the Bossert’s rooftop destination closed due to disrepair.

As is well known in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, the Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower Society began leasing the building in 1983 and bought it five years later. The organization restored the property to Landmarks standards, including the roof, which had collapsed, as well as its ornate 2,500sf lobby, which includes five custom chandeliers and a series of three-story marble columns (which Bistricer maintains he will not touch).

The Times article says that Jehovah’s members who have proselytized or completed international missionary work, have been eligible for up to three nights of accommodations free of charge, three meals included.Above: The view looking west from on high…(Photos: Chuck Taylor; lobby: New York Times; lower lobby: BHB)